


The Force Must Have a Sense of Humor

by PrecariousSauce



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Force Bond (Star Wars), Gen, Star Wars: The Last Jedi Spoilers, not intended as shippy but not opposed to a shippy reading
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 04:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13263594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrecariousSauce/pseuds/PrecariousSauce
Summary: Evidently Rey catching Kylo without a shirt wasn't enough for The Force.





	The Force Must Have a Sense of Humor

**Author's Note:**

> This sprang from some shitposting but I thought it'd actually make a pretty fun fic so I wrote it. Don't think too hard about where it could potentially fit in the timeline of TLJ. In fact just don't think too hard about this whole thing. Relax, have some fun.

Kylo Ren wasn’t sure how to describe exactly what it was like when the Force connected him and Rey. The best he could do was describe the lead up to it, how the world around him would grow still and silent until he saw her, right in front of him, out of the corner of his eye, or he sometimes heard her from behind. It was the sort of thing he could miss if he was lost in his own thoughts; the unnaturally soft silence was a welcome change from the echoing, cavernous sort he usually found on this ship.

It was _not_ welcome while he was _showering_.

The second Kylo stopped hearing the water as it came down his eyes snapped open. She wasn’t in front of him ( _thank goodness for that_ ), she wasn’t on either side of him, so…

The strangled “ _Oh_ my fu–“ from behind him answered that question. There was absolutely no way he was turning around. Her seeing him without his shirt had been bad enough, everything she could see from her current vantage point was _worse_ , and he wasn’t about to make it the absolute worst it could be by turning all the way around. He just settled for standing frozen in place, willing his heart rate to go back down.

Kylo cleared his throat and muttered, “You wouldn’t happen to have your blaster on hand, would you?”

“No,” she coughed.

He closed his eyes again and hissed through gritted teeth, “Of _course_.” 

He could hear the rustling of cloth behind him as Rey shifted in place; “Look I’ll just– I can just turn around and you can keep going and we can just wait this one out until it ends, alright? I’ll try not to… _see_ anymore than I have.” 

Kylo nodded, more for himself than her; “You should do that sooner than later, I have to turn around to grab the soap.” 

With another stifled curse he could hear her shuffle in place, her footfalls making a sound like tapping on stone instead of the metal floor of the shower cell. Despite her promise he made sure to turn very slowly, looking over his shoulder first before moving in a way that might reveal anything. True to her word Rey’s back was to him, though he had to guess wherever she was her surroundings didn’t allow her to move much further than two feet away. He imagined if they did she’d be out of the shower and on the complete other side of the room. Her chin was tucked so close to her chest that her three buns were pointing straight up and she had her hands up on either side of her face like blinders on a pony. 

A part of Kylo couldn’t help but feel a _tiny bit_ offended. Certainly he wasn’t a handsome man but he didn’t look _that_ bad… did he?

“That’s not why,” Rey huffed, and Kylo froze mid-turn. Right, he forgot. No secrets when they were connected like this– or, at least, none if either of them thought too loudly.

She made a vague, frustrated gesture with her left hand; “You’re… _acceptable_ -looking. Objectively. I guess. It’s just that it’s _you_ and this is… I haven’t… _You already know don’t make me say it_.”

Oh _God_ he was the first naked man she’d ever seen.

Kylo made sure to turn as little as he possibly could to grab the bottle of soap from the divot in the wall they all sat in, mumbling all the way, “Well… this is what we look like. Sometimes. Some of us look different.”

He caught Rey nodding just as he turned back to start lathering the soap into his hair; “I’ve gathered that much. And everything on you is… normal?” 

Kylo couldn’t help arching a brow; “… Relatively?”

“Even that… _business_ down there?” Kylo almost choked on his own spit.

“How did you even _see_ that?!” he sputtered, stopping himself just barely from whirling all the way around and giving her _another_ opportunity to see it.

“Unintentionally, that’s how,” she shot back. The tips of her ears were now a bright red, and likely the whole rest of her face matched.

Kylo forced out a long, harsh sigh; “ _Yes_ , for most of us that’s normal. At least the shape is. If you’ve already seen _that_ I don’t know why you’re still bothering with giving me privacy.” 

“I was _trying_ to be _polite_ ,” she snapped, “Don’t know why, since _you_ won’t do the same.”

Oh _really_ of _course_ she was going to be like that well if she knew _what_ – Kylo clenched his jaw shut tight and took a deep breath. In. Out. In once more. Then out again. Getting angry would only make a tense situation even worse. And using The Force to destroy his shower would just result in him being naked, damp, and still upset. There was no profit in escalating things.

“Fine,” he breathed, low enough that he hoped she wouldn’t hear it, “Sorry.”

He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see her straighten up, bringing her hands down from her face. Fantastic, she abso _lutely_ heard that. At the very least she didn’t comment on it. A minute or two passed in silence, the quiet of the Force much stranger now that Kylo was immersed in water that he knew for certain  _should_ be making a sound. Stranger still was Rey’s presence, just… _there_. Any time they didn’t speak while connected usually happened because it was over before they noticed it. To just carry on like she wasn’t here felt… odd. Almost disingenuous.

Evidently she felt the same, since he suddenly heard her ask, “Are all _four_ of these for your hair?”

Another look over his shoulder to see Rey had turned to look at the shelf full of soap, a hand to her mouth as she read the labels with furrowed brows while the other one pointed out the bottles she meant. She was still angled so she would only see the back of him from the corner of her eye. She was _dedicated_ to being polite.

So he shrugged, shoulders tight; “Yes, they are. Why does that matter?”

“Why spend so much time on your hair when no one’s going to see it? You’re usually wearing a mask,” she remarked, turning away on reflex as he reached for another bottle.

“For one, the mask is… gone,” Kylo replied, glad she wasn’t looking so she couldn’t see his grimace, “It… broke.”

He could _feel_ her about to ask what happened, so he hurriedly added, “And I just… like it when my hair looks nice. Considering that hairstyle I think you can understand how that is.”

She just let out a low hum while examining the soaps in greater detail, talking to herself now in a low voice; “There’s nothing like this on the Falcon. Just one for your hair and one for the rest of you.”

It occurred to him that she’d probably taken her first ever shower recently too. He couldn’t imagine Jakku having enough water to go around for frequent and comprehensive bathing. 

His mouth started moving before he could stop it; “How did you keep clean on Jakku? I don’t remember you smelling bad when we first met, you had to have done it somehow.”

Nothing in the world could’ve kept Rey from turning to look at him with wide eyes; “Why do you remember what I _smelled like?_ ”

Kylo wasn’t sure whether to turn around or stay with his back to her so he ended up awkwardly twisted so he was looking at her from the side; “What?! No, I didn’t– I _don’t_ remember what you smelled like, because I _would_ have remembered if you smelled terrible, and you didn’t! That’s all I meant!”

His eyes had to be playing tricks on him, because if they weren’t he could swear for a fraction of a moment Rey was _smiling_ at him sputtering like a fool.

“Well since you care so much about how I smell the answer is dust baths and using the good scrap to pay for extra water rations when you really can’t stand how filthy you are,” she said, turning all the way around again. 

Kylo frowned thoughtfully; “Do dust baths really work?”

“They’re no substitute for water and soap but they can keep you feeling human for a little while longer,” she replied with a loose shrug. 

The next period of silence didn’t last as long, since now Rey was looking up at the water coming out of the ceiling; “Did they make this cell special for you? The ones I’ve seen wouldn’t have fit someone so tall, you would’ve had to sit down or crouch.”

“No, they didn’t,” he replied, the words coming with the same surprising ease, “Everything’s built as big as we can afford on ships like this, it’d be a waste of space and resources if we didn’t. I don’t know how that math works out exactly, the engineers and accountants _insist_ it’s too complicated whenever I try to ask for details.”

“This ship probably has more water stored on it than Jakku gets in a whole rainy season,” Rey remarked.

“I think we have a system for making or harvesting more on longer voyages,” Kylo commented, turning off the water after finally rinsing off the last of the soap. Absently he rubbed at his jaw, feeling for any outstanding stubble as he left the shower cell and grabbed a towel. 

He wrapped the towel around his waist and turned to face Rey, asking without a thought, “Do you think I need to shave?”

She also moved without thinking, walking up, standing on her tiptoes and squinting in the low light; “I think you’re alright, at least for another day.” 

It was just as they both were realizing exactly how close she was to his face and how domestic this whole scene was becoming that the noise of the rest of the world started rushing back in. The last thing he saw before she disappeared from in front of him was Rey pulling back, mouth flattening down into a line so thin it was almost invisible, eyes so wide there was more white than brown staring up at him. 

And then it was just Kylo Ren, damp, alone, wearing nothing but a towel and feeling more human than he ever had in his entire life.


End file.
